Ongoing History Daily: What’s Morrissey on about in “How Soon is Now?”
“How Soon Is Now?” is arguably the biggest song from The Smiths. What began as a B-side of the single “William, It Was Really Nothing” in 1985 was transformed into a mega-alternative hit, thanks to love by Canadian, American, and Australian music fans.
The lyrics have baffled people for decades. There’s just one verse, which is repeated twice along with a chorus and a bridge over its six-plus minutes. Let’s deconstruct some of this. The lines “I am the son and the heir of a shyness that is particularly vulgar” and “I am the son and the heir of nothing in particular” are both literary references. They’re inspired by this line: “To be born the son of a Middlemarch manufacturer and inevitable heir to nothing in particular.”
That’s a nod to a George Elliott novel published in 1872. Set in the 1830s, its characters muddle their way through English provincial society. It’s also possibly a reference to Manchester gay club culture of the 1980s
